Inspiration

So you may have seen quite a few posts on Book of Tas’und’eash which
is intended to be the first book of my Volocio Saga but now I am
talking about a novel called Volocio…..which is actually book 4.

What the hell would I do that?

Well, I had originally thought about puuled a George Lucas and
starting with my Episode 4. Remember in an earlier post how I was
really inspired by Star Wars? Well, when I first started writing, it
was also the time that ‘The Phantom Menace’ came out in theatres.

I love genesis stories. I love knowing how things grew to where they
were in the main story. I loved the idea of how Anakin became Vader
(I may not have been a total fan of the execution); I love the idea of
how Aslan created Narnia.

But what I really love are the Easter eggs. If you’re not familiar
with the concept: they are little details that may be an homage to
something earlier or later. The point is that it is subtle. Perfect
example: the origin of the lamp post in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. In this book, the lamp post serves no other purpose than
to stand there and be the starting point where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus.
But in its prequel The Magicians Nephew, you find out where this
lamp post came from. It’s such s small detail but I love it.

So I knew I was going to have a prequel in mind and I wanted my own
little Easter eggs for my readers. I still felt that Volocio wasn’t
ready so I put it aside and started working on the prequel trilogy
with Book of Tas’und’eash being the first. I have spent over a year
writing that book and carefully crafting the two subsequent books.
They are almost completely mapped out and I have already picked out my
Easter eggs. So what to do now?

I remembered a conversation I had with an old friend while in New York
City this last April. JB had pointed out that my episodes 4, 5, and 6
were to be my true series and the prequel trilogy will be great
stories to enhance the main series. That’s when I realized that he
was right and that now my Easter eggs are in place, I can go back toVolocio and add the final touches.

I can be like other authors who did not write their series in
chronological order such as Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover, or
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern, or even Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan.

So while I am still working a little on Book of Tas’und’eash, I will
be putting my efforts into ‘Volocio’ in order to get that world out
there to my readers.

I started writing Volocio when I was about thirteen. When I started
to write it, I was literally just writing down my daydreams, the
adventures I wanted to have. My two obsessions at such a young age
were Star Wars and Sailor Moon.

What I loved about Sailor Moon was the power over the elements,
reincarnation, fighting evil by the moonlight, winning love by
daylight, and finding your true love against insurmountable odds. Of
course my favorite Sailor Scout is still Sailor Jupiter (this is why
my main character Rei can wield lightning) It’s also interesting that
Sailor Moon has been re-released in a new version. I am twenty-eight
now but I feel like I am thirteen again.

On the other hand, what I loved about Stars Wars I later learned came
from Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero with a Thousand Face.’ I mean the
architypes you find in most classic epics. There’s the hero’s
journey. You can take a look at this awesome chart I found.

You can compare this with a lot of epics. You will find that, for the
most part, they fit. Try is now with ‘The Matrix,’ ‘The Hobbit,’
‘Divergent,’ ‘Narniva,’ and ‘Song of the Lioness.’ They work because
the writer intentionally or unintentionally drew from the architypes
to give you the story you are familiar with.

If you are not familiar with Joseph Campbell then I highly recomment
that you either pick up ‘Hero with a Thousand Faces’ or (if you can
find it) the PBS interview with Joseph Campbell called ‘The Power of Myth.’